Update on Church Shooter: No Charges, Keeps Gun and Carry Permit
by Spocko
TELLICO PLAINS, Tenn. — An 81-year-old man who accidentally shot his wife and himself at church while showing off his gun won’t face charges or lose his carry permit, police said Friday.
Wayne Reid shot himself in the hand and his 80-year-old wife, Kathy, through the abdomen around 1 p.m. ET Thursday while showing off his Ruger pistol to a fellow parishioner at First United Methodist Church.
“As far as I know, he’ll get to keep it,” police Chief Russ Parks said of the firearm. “No one who was in the church is wishing to press charges, and we in the police department think they’ve suffered enough.” USA Today
After a church shooting congregations talk about what should be done to prepare. They talk about the benefits and costs of various responses.
Congregations in different parts of the country choose different solutions. For example, The River at Tampa Bay Church, choose to be heavily armed.
If you are a member of a church discussing the issue this week, you should look at all the costs and benefits of various responses. In addition to talking to experts in safety and security, you should contact your insurance agent AND your legal counsel.
I’ve been contacting insurance companies this week wondering what they recommend to congregations. Off duty police? Licensed private security? Their own security force composed of people with concealed guns?
I’ve asked them how they calculate the risks and then the premium costs for the different configurations.
In the meantime I’ve been looking at other costs. I don’t know all the details of Wayne Reid’s case in Tennessee. Maybe he’s a super rich guy with great insurance, but I wonder:
- Who pays for that 50 mile helicopter flight to Knoxville for his wife? The average patient bill from Air Methods, according to an analysis of national research in Consumer Reports, rose from $13,000 in 2007 to $50,000 in 2016. (Tennessean )
If they are on Medicare, how much of this flight is covered?
- Did the man have extra insurance because he is carrying a concealed weapon in public? Doubtful. Remember, gun owners aren’t required to have any liability insurance.
- Does the Church have liability coverage?
Maybe the entire community is fine with absorbing the medical costs instead of putting the financial responsibility back on the man who brought his gun to church, or on the church that decided to allow this person, with his level of training, in the church while carrying a gun.
Praise the Lord and pass the collection plate!